When I went back to college as a bill-paying, responsible and supportive member of a family, I became aware of financial considerations I hadn’t paid much attention to as a teenager.
I knew enrolling in an online bachelor’s program would require me to pay different fees than a traditional college would, but I couldn’t attend school on a physical campus given my status as a stay-at-home father. When comparing the costs of my different options, I realized I could avoid unnecessary costs by applying to an online college.
Here are some costs that traditional students often must pay but that can be avoided by pursuing an online degree.
[Discover 10 things to consider before paying for an online degree.]
1. Housing costs: The first fee I could eliminate by attending an online college was room and board. In its place, some online programs have technology fees — the costs needed to maintain and improve the infrastructure of the virtual environment.
These fees are minimal compared with what it might cost to live in a dorm room on campus or an apartment with other students off campus. Often, working adults don’t need campus housing, so for those already living elsewhere, go with technology fees instead to save.
2. Cheaper class materials: In my personal experience, the online program provides most of the class materials, in many cases replacing the need for actual textbooks. The file is there for as many copies as you need — no more taking a trip to the library and wrangling dimes out of the crevices of your car. E-textbooks and online rentals are often cheaper than renting a physical book, driving down the cost associated with lugging a physical textbook to a classroom.
[Explore ways online students can save on textbooks and learning materials.]
3. Transportation costs: Many university students know the pain of parking on campus, especially when the campus has fewer parking spaces than students. This can result in wasted time, frustration and in desperate times, parking fines. In some cases, the price of a parking pass doesn’t always guarantee that students will have a space — many of whom then park illegally .
You also don’t need gas to get to an online class. Though it’s not necessarily a required fee for traditional school, it does factor in when trying to decide whether it’s worth paying the technology fees or to travel to a physical classroom. Still, prospective online students should note that some programs do require them to come to campus or another location, which students might have to pay for.
The takeaway: Education comes at a cost no matter which school you attend, but you should choose which costs seem more relevant to your current lifestyle.
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3 Costs Online Education Saves Students originally appeared on usnews.com
